Action Plan Template A guide to preparing your action plan

ACTION PLAN DEVELOPMENT

Action Plan Template

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DETERMINE SCOPE

DEVELOP ACTION PLAN

IMPLEMENT ACTIONS

REPORT ON ACTIONS

REVISE ACTION PLAN AS

NECESSARY

Introduction As a signatory to the Australian Packaging Covenant (APC), your organisation has committed to developing and implementing an action plan which details the actions your organisation will undertake to further the goals of the APC. This action plan is required to be completed within three months of becoming a signatory and should be displayed on your organisation’s website. It will also be made publicly available via the APC website.

This template is intended to help signatories develop action plans that meet the requirements of the APC. As such it provides only guidance rather than prescribed contents; a list of the minimum requirements for action plans is provided on the APC Resources page, and is included in Schedule 2 of the Covenant.

As shown below, there are several stages in developing and implementing a strong and achievable action plan, of which this document addresses only the development stage. For best effect, you should consider the other stages of the action plan process when developing your organisation’s plan.

Diagram 1: The Action Plan Process

Remember that your action plan is a public document and will be viewed by consumers, other signatories and regulators.

It is recommended that your plan goes beyond addressing the minimum requirements of the APC. Plans that are aligned to your business and account for your place in the supply chain are both easier to implement and report against, and will be more likely to deliver beneficial outcomes.

AUDITING

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Your action plan team It is important that the right people are involved in the development of your action plan. It is very unlikely that a single person or very small team alone will be able to address all of the considerations for an effective action plan, especially within larger organisations. Even if the primary responsibility rests with a single officer or small team, it is advisable for that team to consult with representatives from other departments, including Management, Procurement, Product Development, Marketing, Environment/Sustainability, and Logistics, as applicable in the development of your plan. It is also good practice to consult with your suppliers in the development of your plan, as they may be able to provide guidance regarding achievable outcomes. For more information please refer to Setting up an APC Team.

Remember, it isn’t enough to develop an action plan; you must also implement it over the next months and years. It’s therefore important that the actions and targets you develop are realistic, achievable, and beneficial. For more information on this, please refer to Developing Actions and Setting Targets and Better Practice Actions and Targets.

Preparing your plan APC staff are able to assist you in developing your action plan. If you have any questions about preparing your plan, you should contact the APC early in the process, to address these as soon as possible. Action plans should be submitted as draft documents in Word for review by the APC, well in advance of the due date. Drafts will be reviewed by the APC staff, and any alterations required/recommended noted within the plan.

When the plan meets the minimum requirements of the APC, we will confirm acceptance of the document and request an official PDF version.

Action plan contents Your organisation’s action plan will be specific to your organisation’s business structure, place in the supply chain, and the brands owned. Despite this variation, all action plans are required to include certain content, and to address the specific goals of the APC.

The content as included below outlines the minimum requirements for an action plan to address the goals and KPIs of the APC and be accepted by the APC Secretariat.

1. Title page

The title page should contain basic introductory information about the plan including:

• The organisation name; • A document title, for example, “Australian Packaging Covenant Action Plan”; and • The period the plan covers, e.g. June 2013 – June 2015.

You may also wish to include your company logo and the logos of any brands that are covered by the plan.

Action plans can be written for a maximum of five years, and are expected to be updated periodically to reflect the findings of the organisation as the plan is implemented. Plans may

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also be revised if an organisation changes significantly, for example, acquiring or selling other organisations or brands. See the Action Plan Revision Process for more information.

2. Company summary

This should be a brief statement of the background of the company and what it does, and a summary of the most important programs and commitments in your plan. It is a good idea to include an organisational overview at this point, including the name of the organisation and its subsidiaries, the nature of the company, and its place in the supply chain (e.g. brand owner/packaging manufacturer/retailer, etc.).

Your action plan needs to be authorised by the organisation’s Chief Executive Officer or similar. This commitment can most easily be included in this summary, and should include the name and title of this representative.

3. Covenant contact officer

Your action plan should clearly identify and provide details for the primary APC contact officer. If you have an APC team, you may also choose to identify members of the team; however the primary contact should be differentiated.

The details you provide should include:

• Name and position; • Phone/mobile; • Email; and • Postal address.

4. Packaging groups and schedule for packaging reviews

The first KPI of the APC requires all signatories to review existing packaging against the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines or an equivalent (equivalency must be demonstrated). As the first stage in this review process, signatories are to summarise and group the packaging formats used by the organisation.

This summary should group all of your packaging into categories for assessment. The way in which you group these items will be determined by the range of products and brands your organisation owns or handles; however the purpose of grouping products is to apply the knowledge acquired from one product assessment/review to other similar products. This makes it important that the groups selected for assessment contain only similar product packaging and are not too broad.

Your plan is considered a live document and should be reviewed and updated to account for product and business changes, improved understanding of baseline data and any other changes that may influence the targets set.

Note: You are not required to assess every SKU (Stock Keeping Unit). Rather, we ask that you assess groups of like packaging and identify opportunities to improve the environmental performance of the packaging within those groups.

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You should include a timetable for assessing these groups of packaging. This may be presented in text, in a table, or inside the KPI table, as long as milestone dates are provided for each packaging group. The table below is a guide.

Group Products Included Assessment Scheduled Large PET bottles 2l CSD, 1.5l CSD, 2l juice 2nd Quarter 2013 Small PET bottles 500ml CSD, 300 ml CSD, 500ml

juice 3rd Quarter 2013

Shipper corrugated cartons Brown Board shippers, partitions

4th Quarter 2013

Plastic film Pallet wrap, stretch film for cartons

1st Quarter 2014

Labels Paper, PET and PP labels 3rd Quarter 2014 Closures All plastic closures 1st Quarter 2015 The contents of the table and the schedule for assessment will naturally vary between organisations based on their packaging formats.

5. Action plan KPI table

Your action plan must contain details of the actions you plan to undertake to meet the Covenant Goals and KPIs. Not all KPIs apply to signatories, but you must address KPIs 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8, and include actions under each. The content of these KPIs is discussed in detail in Performance Goals and KPIs.

Actions must be clearly detailed under each KPI, and should not be either broad ‘motherhood’ statements or vague declarations of intent. Each action should identify a clear process to be undertaken, preferably staged, and be linked to one or more realistic targets which state what the action is intended to achieve. Actions and targets need to be directly linked, since the progress of the action will be measured against the target(s). Each action must also be given timeline or milestone dates to demonstrate progress against, be assigned to an individual or group, and have baseline data provided for the current state of affairs. Further, you can include more than one action to address each KPI, and the APC encourages you to do so – having more actions generally makes it easier to show progress when it comes to annual reporting.

Baseline data is intended to demonstrate the current conditions for organisations. For many actions, there will be no existing data, and it is perfectly acceptable to state that you do not currently have data. In other cases, you may have existing programs which do not incorporate packaging goals, but which will be redeveloped to include these. Baseline data is meant to demonstrate the current situation and must be included so that progress can be demonstrated. It is important that you not write “N/A” or similar in this column.

If you find it more convenient, you can choose to expand on your proposed actions within your overall document, however you are required to supply these actions to the APC in an action plan KPI table. The table below is provided as a template in Word on the APC website.

Keep in mind that you are required to report against KPIs 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 every year. It is important to ensure your actions and targets drive yearly progress across these KPIs.

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In addition, while you should feel free to write your own actions addressing each KPI, the APC does provide resources that list a range of potential actions you can include in your action plan. These are available on the APC website in the Action Plan Resources section.

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Action plan KPI template The template below should be used to develop your actions and targets under each KPI of the Covenant. We have provided guidance for what each of your actions needs to contain to address the requirements of the KPI – you should consider this information, and use it to inform the writing of each of your actions. Note that you’ll need to provide details for responsibility, baseline data, targets, and intended milestones for each of your actions. Specific resources detailing the requirements and examples of potential responses to each KPI are available on the APC website in the Resources section.

The content of the table below is meant to inform the development of your action plan. You should delete the current content (other than the Performance Goals and KPIs) and replace it with your own actions, targets, and other details, for submission as part of your action plan. A Word version of this template is available here.

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Performance goals and KPIs Actions Responsibility Baseline data Targets Milestones 1. Design - optimise packaging to achieve resource efficiency and reduce environmental impact KPI 1 – Proportion of signatories in the supply chain implementing the SPG for design or procurement of packaging. Target: 70% of Covenant signatories with documented policies and procedures for evaluating and procuring packaging using the SPG or equivalent Target: 70% of Covenant signatories assessing 100% of new packaging and 50% of existing packaging against the guidelines

Indicate how the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines will be used for the review of existing packaging, including a timetable for reviewing existing packaging. This may include: • The % of packaging ranges to be assessed each

year; • Educating those involved in the

design/procurement to assess packaging; • Developing internal processes aligned with the

SPG; • Developing/adopting specific tools for

assessment; and/or • Incorporating the SPG into the review of existing

packaging as part of an existing continuous improvement program.

Who will be responsible for this action?

What is the current state of affairs?

What will your action achieve?

When will your target(s) be reached?

Indicate how the SPG will be used for the design or procurement of new packaging. This may include: • Educating those involved in the

design/procurement so they may assess packaging;

• Developing internal design and procurement processes aligned with the SPG;

• Developing/adopting specific tools; and/or • Scheduling packaging assessments.

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Performance goals and KPIs Actions Responsibility Baseline data Targets Milestones 2. Recycling - the efficient collection and recycling of packaging KPI 3 – Proportion of signatories with on-site recovery systems for recycling used packaging KPI 4 – Proportion of signatories with a policy to buy products made from recycled packaging. All APC signatories will have a formal, documented policy of buying recycled products or materials

Indicate whether there is a recovery system in place. If so, commit to maintaining, reviewing and/or improving this system. If not, outline how you will establish a recovery system for used packaging and other materials. Note: You may want to include an action to review the current contents of the waste stream(s) from your sites to inform other actions under this KPI.

Who will be responsible for this action?

What is the current state of affairs?

What will your action achieve?

When will your target(s) be reached?

Indicate whether there is an existing policy or procedure (such as a Buy Recycled policy). If so, commit to maintaining and/or expanding the existing policy, and include targets to demonstrate progress against. If not, you must define a timetable for establishing and implementing a policy or procedure, or modifying an existing policy to incorporate the ‘buy recycled’ commitment. Note: As a higher level action, you could prepare a sustainable purchasing policy which would go above and beyond a commitment to buying recycled.

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Performance goals and KPIs Actions Responsibility Baseline data Targets Milestones 3. Product Stewardship - demonstrated commitment to product stewardship PI 6 – Proportion of signatories that have formal processes for working with others to improve design and recycling of packaging Target: 70% of Covenant signatories implementing formal policies and procedures in working with others to improve design, procurement and recovery of packaging KPI 7 – Proportion of signatories demonstrating other product stewardship outcomes

Include ways of developing formal processes to work with your supply chain to improve packaging design and recycling. Possible actions include: • Integrating packaging sustainability criteria into

contracts and tenders; • Writing waste management contracts that require

collection and recycling of packaging; and/or • Developing procedures to work with suppliers

towards packaging sustainability.

Who will be responsible for this action?

What is the current state of affairs?

What will your action achieve?

When will your target(s) be reached?

Include any other product stewardship actions you will undertake to support the APC’s objective and goals. This can include broader environmental/ sustainability programs or initiatives which you may already have in place. Examples could include: • Assessing resource consumption within your

facilities and those of your suppliers; • Developing or expanding green product lines; • Working with community groups or associations

to deliver social benefits; • Exploring options for, or maintaining,

environmental certification; and/or • Developing environmental management

procedures.

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Performance goals and KPIs Actions Responsibility Baseline data Targets Milestones 3. Product Stewardship - demonstrated commitment to product stewardship KPI 8 – Reduction in the number of packaging items in litter

Include actions to reduce litter. Litter is different from general waste, and is specifically those items which end up outside of the recycling or waste streams, and in the environment. Actions to reduce litter might mean identifying ways to reduce your products’ packaging in the litter stream, reducing litter on your site, or reducing litter in the local community. Possible actions include: • Redesigning packaging to reduce the number of

detachable components likely to become litter; • Including recycling and/or disposal logos in

packaging artwork approval processes; • Identifying and cleaning up litter hot-spots on

your site; and/or • Joining and participating in a community-based

litter reduction program (e.g. Clean Up Australia Day).

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Optional action plan inclusions Beyond the key requirements listed above, you may find it valuable to include other content relevant to your organisation’s commitment to the APC. This might include details of the environmental performance of your packaging, other packaging initiatives, sustainability programs more generally, or records of achievements to date under the APC. However, you need to make the relevance of the additional content apparent.

Positions/departments responsible

Many signatories find that the most effective way to identify and achieve appropriate actions and targets under the APC is to build and use a cross-functional APC team. This helps members to be more effective in devising appropriate actions, and builds capacity to address any future change. Providing details of this team and their roles and responsibilities can help ensure accountability, and incorporation into your standard business practices.

Benchmarking

You may wish to include descriptions of existing programs and approaches to address the environmental impacts of packaging at the point of design, or recycling and waste management initiatives currently in place. This may tie into your provision of baseline data, but should serve to help demonstrate progress against the APC goals over time.

Supply chain collaboration

One intention of the APC is to promote supply chain collaboration to improve environmental outcomes. You may wish to include information on any existing programs or agreements you have in place between your organisation and suppliers, customers, and/or industry peers, to drive and promote collaboration.

Reviewing your action plan An action plan is a ‘living’ document that should respond to business and operational changes. As such, it should be reviewed regularly to ensure the actions detailed in it are appropriate and achievable. When making changes to the action plan, you must ensure that the plan remains aligned to the goals of the APC, and resubmit for approval by the APC.

If you choose to review and update your action plan, you will need to supply a copy of the new plan and a coversheet detailing the changes and their rationale. The revised plan will not be considered active until it has been reviewed and approved by the APC.

Further information For any further questions regarding your organisation’s action plan or any other APC-related issue, do not hesitate to make contact with a member of the APC.

For support developing your action plan, completing annual reports, developing a Buy Recycled policy, implementing the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines or product assessment issues, contact Member Services:

Phone: (02) 8249 4080 or email: apc@packagingcovenant.org.au.